


The Monster

by storyplease



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other, Retelling, Ruthless Ruler, fairytale, tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 14:09:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14522313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyplease/pseuds/storyplease
Summary: A monster does what a monster does best. A princess is kept away from the world. The world turns towards war, and the people turn towards a simple fix to it all.  But some monsters are not monsters at all. And some men are more than monstrous enough to ruin everything.





	The Monster

**** She had been taken away by the monster and placed in a large tower; chained and shackled heavily so that she would never escape. She told the monster that she was just a princess, that no one would care if she was gone because only her brothers would ascend to the throne as they were the rightful heirs. 

The monster simply grinned evilly through sharpened fangs and told her that, soon enough, they would listen to the grievances of the monster folk and stop burning and stealing their land in the name of expansion.

She waited. 

The monster gave her food, basic furnishings, and a table with pen and paper to draw and sketch. She often looked out of the barred windows and wished she could fly away, though to be honest, being in the tower was pretty much the same as being in the castle, only at least here she didn't have to wear heavy, uncomfortable dresses and practice court etiquette around nobles day in and day out. 

She began to write. Dreams, stories, thoughts flowed through the tip of her fingers and into dark ink. She was never so thankful that her father had always begrudgingly allowed her to sit in on her brothers' lessons. 

The monster would come in and sit with her, listening to her musings and often share with her the story of the various nobles, knights and down on their luck peasants who had attempted and failed to rescue her, laughing in a throaty manner while describing the way their flesh yielded under sharp claws and the taste of their heart's-blood as they died. 

The stories were terrible, but she accepted them for what little conversation she could get. She could not truly begrudge the monster for behaving this way. For monsters are monsters, and to expect anything else is folly. 

She waited. 

Many days, seasons, years seemed to pass, her body changing with it. She had developed the full swell of a proper bosom and a marked curve at her hips. The monster no longer bothered with chains and locks, for the princess knew that there was no other place where she could freely create her art and music, especially since it is the duty of all princesses to wed and birth heirs, and nothing more. Her prison became the world outside and so she stayed separate, refusing to leave. 

The monster began to tell her of how her beauty and radiance was now considered by most to be the stuff of legends, that her body was considered a prize. She began to wonder if the monster and the heroes both had forgotten why she was there in the first place, that she had merely been a hostage for demands needing to be met, not a reward for passing a lethal test of strength. 

Still more tried to save her, for as the monster had predicted, her two brothers who had been left to squabble over the throne after their father abruptly died had broken the kingdom into two factions, whittling away at the population and resources in a pointless war to show their superiority to the last. It was said that whosoever rescued the princess would become the rightful king by marriage, and the people, disillusioned by the pettiness of the princes, clamored for the princess's return. 

One day, the princess heard a peculiar noise of light footfalls at the door of her tower room. With a mighty blow from the outside, the hinges gave way and when the dust cleared, a large, arrogant looking man with a hawk like nose and a mighty battle axe stood looking at her with a mixture of lust and pride.

"The monster is defeated and detoothed. I have come to claim you as my prize," he said, looking her up and down and pausing where her breasts pushed against the fabric of her short satin gown. 

His body was large, muscled, and he carried an impressive array of weapons on his body. A long stripe of silver shone against the black of his hair and his short beard pointed sharply at the end, giving him the appearance of a large bird of prey. 

Still, she tried to tell him that she was perfectly fine staying where she was, that she had no need of kingdoms or royal weddings. 

He didn't hear her and when she struggled as he grabbed her wrists, he slapped her with the back of his armored hand and she fell into unconsciousness. 

When she awoke, it was to the smell of blood and fire. The tower behind her was ablaze with flame and she sobbed bitter tears knowing that all of her beautiful creations were now merely gray ash flying in the heat and light of the rising flames. 

She was laying on the back of a cart, her hands and ankles bound. She looked at the end of the cart and saw the monster, alive and toothless, each claw ripped out leaving bloody stumps. The man had fastened a massive manacle around the monster's neck and wrapped the scarred and bleeding body of the monster with chains and locks, fastened to the monster's skin with deep and ugly metal hooks. As the monster was pulled along, blood welled up and dripped into the dry dust of the road.

"The monster is a prize as well," the man explained, when he saw she had regained consciousness, "I shall display it in my private zoo as a warning to all who oppose me. You shall learn all about me for I shall be your husband, and so too I shall become rightful king of this country at last."

With that, he began to talk, mostly about himself in a tedious manner that bored the princess, yet there was not much she could do while trussed up like a prized hog, so she waited in silence for him to tire of his self praise. 

Unfortunately, that took quite a long time. 

Her self-proclaimed rescuer was a nobleman from court who prided himself a master of the hunt. The thought of capturing such a magnificent prize filled him with lustful desire.  He had honed his skills through lesser hunts and finally had set out for the ultimate quest to fight the monster of the tower. Most of what he said next about the monster and what terrible things the monster did, she had already heard (only from the other side), so when she yawned with boredom, he snapped the reins on his horse's bridle and gave her a wicked look. 

He sneered rakishly.  "You won't be so bored when I take you on our wedding night." 

She did not know what to say to this, so she said nothing. 

The nobleman sent two of his servants ahead to announce news of the princesses' rescue, making very sure to tell them a more embellished version of the truth so as to be looked upon favorably by the citizens and members of the court. He also bade them to begin the preparations for the wedding, for all nobles knew that by saving a princess, they were entitled to the throne. 

"But what if I don't want to marry you?" she said in a small voice, already wincing at the blow that was sure to come from his gauntlet. 

"Nonsense!" He snorted, "You are a princess. I  _ rescued _ you. It doesn't matter what you  _ want _ ."

She thought and thought until an idea came to her; an idea that she would never have thought of had she not been left to think for herself for so long. 

"What if the people do not actually believe that you caught the monster and saved me?  If you relied on cowardly tactics, surely there will be protest over your ascension to the crown," she said gently, bowing low. 

The nobleman studied her for a moment before making a gruff noise of agreement. 

"There must be no doubt in the mind of the people," he said thoughtfully, "What would you have me do, since you grew up in the innermost circle of royalty and are therefore privy to matters of the kingdom that most are not?"

"Surely, if you are truly as skilled a huntsman as you say, you would have a bag of the monster's teeth and claws to prove that it was  _ you _ who defanged the beast," she said, thoughtfully, "And what's more, you should make a public display of the monster's submission to you.  Without any teeth or claws, surely such a beast is no threat to your experience and skill!"

The man before her preened and postured vainly as she began to heap more and more praise onto his ego until it was quite inflated. 

Within a week, he had sent his apprentices into the woods to retrieve the teeth and claws that had been strewn around the ruined tower, while he planned for the public display of strength against the monster. 

The princess, meanwhile, asked her nursemaid, an elderly woman nearing sixty, to bring up the cleaned bones of the various animals that were being served up each night as the lord lavished the court with the finest the castle had to offer, foolishly depleting the stores that had been stockpiled for the upcoming winter months. She stored them in a burlap sack under her bed. 

On the day of the big event, people came from far and wide to watch the man who claimed to be the rightful king show his proof. The monster was dragged into an open area where a crowd jeered and threw objects at the massive head of the beast. 

The nobleman appeared from the opposite doorway, clad in gold and purple silk—regal and pompous clothing he had taken from the dead king's wardrobe. The many layers restricted his movement but he was not worried. At the bequest of the princess, he had decided that with the monster all but utterly defeated, he had little to fear from the creature and that a regal presence would only increase the effectiveness of his claim to the throne. 

He waved to the masses, hearing their cheers as he swept into the arena he had set up, his majestic visage looking increasingly impressive as he neared the chained, toothless beast, its hide covered in old blood where the hooks still burrowed in its skin. 

The creature struggled weakly against its bonds, which was very amusing to the crowd, and the nobleman, not to be outdone, laughed the loudest of all. 

A groan escaped from the beast's toothless mouth, and it mumbled something that was drowned out by the roar of the crowd. 

"What did you say?" The nobleman roared, drawing within inches of the putrid stench of its breath. 

"I said," the monster growled low, its voice full of a calm surety, "That you will die the fool that you always have been."

Blind rage bubbled through to the surface of the nobleman's face, and he did not notice how the crowd had gone silent. He reached for the handle of the ceremonial blade fastened to his waist, but the jewel-encrusted scabbard was empty- the blade had been removed. 

"You see? I am not the monster you need to fear," the beast rumbled, golden-eyed slits focused on a sudden movement behind the man who sputtered and cursed at having been tricked.

The man in silks roared with fury as he began to turn, his breath leaving him in one harsh gasp as red hot pain pierced his chest, and he saw crimson stains spreading through the silk finery with lethal surety. 

As his vision dimmed away to a final darkness, he saw the princess, dressed in leather and armor as though prepared for war, her hair cropped short against her skull and in her hand a terrible weapon made of the monster's teeth and long, dagger-length claws, sharpened and set into a leather-wrapped handle. 

The man collapsed in a pool of blood and breathed his last as she held her weapon aloft, challenging anyone to step forward and try her patience. 

Then, she knelt down and stroked the monster's jaw, whispering kind things. 

“It was you who taught me not to fear what I am, and for that, I shall always be grateful,” she crooned, stroking the monster’s skin, “Will you join me now, as I help make your demands a reality, for once and for all?”

The monster’s snout lifted and chuffed the air, tears welling from large, liquid eyes.

“Do you mean it?” the monster whispered.

“Of course,” the princess replied, kissing the monster’s blood-encrusted muzzle in full view of the silent, stunned crowd, “For it is you who taught me the beauty in the monstrous and the monstrosity in what is hailed as beautiful.”

The princess had her brothers hanged for their crimes and took the throne with the monster, unshackled, at her side.  Claws and teeth grew slowly, but with the first thaw of spring, they were formidably sharp as ever. The princess was a just but cruel ruler, whose law was absolute but fair.  Monster-folk regained their lands and expansion was pushed eastward into the unoccupied grasslands, increasing the bounty for all.

In the end, the princess was able to write once more, spinning stories for her monster, who now was not much of a monster at all beyond the razor teeth and knife-like claws. For a knight really tasted nearly as delicious as a well-cooked steak.

And so it was thus that they lived monstrously ever after.


End file.
